Technology Thread.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Having a good run of bad luck. My iMac hard drive ceased working on Sunday, the first hard drive I've lost in, ooh, 26 years of owning and using computers. To be fair to Apple this particular Seagate drive was subject to a recall six months ago and I never had time to get it done. Forced into it now though.

The stress is killing me!

I collected the iMac yesterday evening with new hard drive and basic OSX installed. Somehow though almost 600gb of the new drive was already filled so Time Machine couldn't do it's stuff. Just spent an hour on the phone (at their expense) to tech support who couldn't find any reason an empty drive would be so full and then guided me through a clean install and to the point where Time Machine is now reinstating all my files - I hope! The time scale is currently showing over three hours though and I think I might explode in that time. Off out for a walk.

600gig on a new drive. Feckin'ell.!!!

[clapton is god]

Yeah, but there was physically nothing on it. I suggested to tech support that perhaps Time Machine had allocated the space but then couldn't use it. He didn't think that possible but didn't have an alternative.

[ChrisC]

I have Windows 8 and don't mind it I don't really use the tiles/apps because they are pants compared to apps on the apple store & android market. I have had it around 3 months or so now and not had it crash on me once which is a plus. Runs really smooth and I like the look overall. I do like how you get notifications more than anything . If something is finishing on the bay then it pops up in the top corner.

On my laptop it crashes daily. Took me 2 weeks to fix updates. Whenever I try to find something it is buried. If I try to go to the top left corner of screen to use a menu it pops 'apps' that are open in the background out so I can't access said menu. People can call me on skype despite me not running it. As in, no process running for it in task manager, yet they can still call me. Most fecking annoying.

Out of interest, did you install it or did you buy the laptop with it pre-installed?

I got it by chance.. I bought a Laptop advertised with Windows 7 but on first start up it was preparing me for my Windows 8 experience

I know a few people who have had problems but only when they have installed it over Windows 7 etc..

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I have Windows 8 and don't mind it I don't really use the tiles/apps because they are pants compared to apps on the apple store & android market. I have had it around 3 months or so now and not had it crash on me once which is a plus. Runs really smooth and I like the look overall. I do like how you get notifications more than anything . If something is finishing on the bay then it pops up in the top corner.

On my laptop it crashes daily. Took me 2 weeks to fix updates. Whenever I try to find something it is buried. If I try to go to the top left corner of screen to use a menu it pops 'apps' that are open in the background out so I can't access said menu. People can call me on skype despite me not running it. As in, no process running for it in task manager, yet they can still call me. Most fecking annoying.

Out of interest, did you install it or did you buy the laptop with it pre-installed?

I got it by chance.. I bought a Laptop advertised with Windows 7 but on first start up it was preparing me for my Windows 8 experience

I know a few people who have had problems but only when they have installed it over Windows 7 etc..

I upgraded as the laptop only came with 7 basic (most laptops here come with that for some reason). One good thing is it lets me back up over the network to my NAS. I'll give them that

[malcd1]

Looking into getting a tablet, mainly for watching stuff on trains as I seem to spend plenty of time doing this. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations of various models? I'm a bit of an applephobe so am somewhat biased against the iPad, is there really much difference between that and it's rivals other than the iPad is more expensive and for some unknown reason doesn't have a MicroSD card slot? Why don't they by the way?

Edit: I mean seriously, you can quite easily get mp3 players (even from apple) with greater than 16gb memory, and the iPad is a larger device. Why are they so tight on the memory and don't give you the option to expand it? The increases in prices of models as you increase the memory doesn't seem to be reflective of the cost of the memory either. Seems a con to me!

I got my wife a Nexus 7 for Christmas but I have probably used it more than she has. I spent a bit more and got the 32gb version but it was still only £199 from PC World. If you want something a little bit more transportable than an iPad then I would recommend a Nexus. Easy to use and works out of the box.

7" screen and a better processor than a Kindle Fire although that does have HD. There is no MicroSD on the Nexus and only comes in Wifi version. The camera is a bit pants and is only front facing so good for Skype but nothing else.

For the money I don't think you can beat the Nexus.

[Worthy4England]

Looking into getting a tablet, mainly for watching stuff on trains as I seem to spend plenty of time doing this. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations of various models? I'm a bit of an applephobe so am somewhat biased against the iPad, is there really much difference between that and it's rivals other than the iPad is more expensive and for some unknown reason doesn't have a MicroSD card slot? Why don't they by the way?

Edit: I mean seriously, you can quite easily get mp3 players (even from apple) with greater than 16gb memory, and the iPad is a larger device. Why are they so tight on the memory and don't give you the option to expand it? The increases in prices of models as you increase the memory doesn't seem to be reflective of the cost of the memory either. Seems a con to me!

I got my wife a Nexus 7 for Christmas but I have probably used it more than she has. I spent a bit more and got the 32gb version but it was still only £199 from PC World. If you want something a little bit more transportable than an iPad then I would recommend a Nexus. Easy to use and works out of the box.

7" screen and a better processor than a Kindle Fire although that does have HD. There is no MicroSD on the Nexus and only comes in Wifi version. The camera is a bit pants and is only front facing so good for Skype but nothing else.

For the money I don't think you can beat the Nexus.

Look this thread's a good few pages long, it's shit. If you didn't spend £500 on it.

[CAPSLOCK]

Looking into getting a tablet, mainly for watching stuff on trains as I seem to spend plenty of time doing this. I was wondering if anyone had recommendations of various models? I'm a bit of an applephobe so am somewhat biased against the iPad, is there really much difference between that and it's rivals other than the iPad is more expensive and for some unknown reason doesn't have a MicroSD card slot? Why don't they by the way?

Edit: I mean seriously, you can quite easily get mp3 players (even from apple) with greater than 16gb memory, and the iPad is a larger device. Why are they so tight on the memory and don't give you the option to expand it? The increases in prices of models as you increase the memory doesn't seem to be reflective of the cost of the memory either. Seems a con to me!

I got my wife a Nexus 7 for Christmas but I have probably used it more than she has. I spent a bit more and got the 32gb version but it was still only £199 from PC World. If you want something a little bit more transportable than an iPad then I would recommend a Nexus. Easy to use and works out of the box.

7" screen and a better processor than a Kindle Fire although that does have HD. There is no MicroSD on the Nexus and only comes in Wifi version. The camera is a bit pants and is only front facing so good for Skype but nothing else.

For the money I don't think you can beat the Nexus.

I didn't use mine til i discovered the utorrent app and mxplayer

[clapton is god]

[CrazyHorse]

Touch screen fewked this morning on the phone rendering it useless. Can't unlock it, can't answer calls, can't do anything. Shite, but I have been thinking about a new one so this has forced my hand. Looks like the kids are going to have to go without food again next week to pay for it.

We should have a FFS! thread for things like this.

[BWFC_Insane]

Touch screen fewked this morning on the phone rendering it useless. Can't unlock it, can't answer calls, can't do anything. Shite, but I have been thinking about a new one so this has forced my hand. Looks like the kids are going to have to go without food again next week to pay for it.

We should have a FFS! thread for things like this.

How old is it?

Unlikely but if its a contract one and you make a song and dance, sometimes, they will replace it for you. For free or a nominal fee.

Usually not, but I've broken one once and had it replaced for free.

[Bruce Rioja]

Touch screen fewked this morning on the phone rendering it useless. Can't unlock it, can't answer calls, can't do anything. Shite, but I have been thinking about a new one so this has forced my hand. Looks like the kids are going to have to go without food again next week to pay for it.

We should have a FFS! thread for things like this.

How old is it?

Unlikely but if its a contract one and you make a song and dance, sometimes, they will replace it for you. For free or a nominal fee.

Usually not, but I've broken one once and had it replaced for free.

Ssshhh. Hoss's kids are too fat as it is!

[CrazyHorse]

My kids aren't fat; I eat 95% of the food in our house, they get to eat whatever scraps that are left that I can't manage.

It's 18 month old, out of warranty and I bought it sim free so I'm on my own. pah.

[BWFC_Insane]

My kids aren't fat; I eat 95% of the food in our house, they get to eat whatever scraps that are left that I can't manage.

It's 18 month old, out of warranty and I bought it sim free so I'm on my own. pah.

I think the correct expression there is "balls".

18 months. Assuming you've not dropped it or damaged it, thats fecking shocking.

I'd ring whoever made it up and threaten them with SOGA or sommat - just to try it on like.

[CrazyHorse]

It's an LG, it was relatively cheap because it was a discontinued model.
It's been dropped dozens of times; though not in last few days. Google reckons I've got the screen wet (which of course I have, dozens of times; though not in last few days) which has broken the digitizer. Maybe one of the kids have been secretly trying to eat it?

Anyway just ordered a new one from Amazon. It's not relatively cheap and it isn't a discontinued model. Balls.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

It's an LG, it was relatively cheap because it was a discontinued model.
It's been dropped dozens of times; though not in last few days. Google reckons I've got the screen wet (which of course I have, dozens of times; though not in last few days) which has broken the digitizer. Maybe one of the kids have been secretly trying to eat it?

Anyway just ordered a new one from Amazon. It's not relatively cheap and it isn't a discontinued model. Balls.

Don't get it from the Amazon. I've just read that the next scandal is about to break and involves minced capybara used in smart phone manufacture. Or is that in meat balls... I can't remember. Balls.

[CrazyHorse]

Dumb question of the day...where does one get a micro sim card for the new phone they've just bought? Google is suggesting I simply cut my current one down to fit which sounds like lunacy to me.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Dumb question of the day...where does one get a micro sim card for the new phone they've just bought? Google is suggesting I simply cut my current one down to fit which sounds like lunacy to me.

I does work, so long as you cut the right bits. There's a template you can google (somewhere).

[ChrisC]

Dumb question of the day...where does one get a micro sim card for the new phone they've just bought? Google is suggesting I simply cut my current one down to fit which sounds like lunacy to me.

Depending who you are with, go to your local shop for your network. Some will transfer you to a micro sim for free (o2 for example) some will shaft you for £15! (T-mobile)

I have cut 2 down with no problems. Your data is usually in the very centre of the chip so even cutting part of the chip won't damage your data.

[CrazyHorse]

Cheers.
Reet, into Bury straight after work to find out if vodafone charge or not.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Cheers.
Reet, into Bury straight after work to find out if vodafone charge or not.

And if they charge just use this for free... http://www.thechinacellphone.com/micro_sim_template.pdf